I’ve entrusted this task to a wonderful web designer who’s assisting me in creating the perfect look for create your brand today.

In no time, the new and improved website will be up and running and new content and updates will be provided consistently at an ongoing rate.

I’m looking forward to your comments, feedback and advice. I can’t wait to finally have everything implemented and ready to go

Warmest regards
Angela

I read an awesome article in Computer arts magazine that really hit home for me. Jason Arber reiterates the importance of music within a working environment to “shut out the outside world” and keep the creativity flowing until all hours of the morning. How right he is!! I don’t think I ever remember a time when I didn’t stick the headphones on my ears while on some sort of project. It’s been almost life saving when a deadline was looming behind my shoulder. Somehow the electronic base seemed to ease the stress of the deadline hitting home in an hour (and the client phone calls too!!).

Chris Boyd Brewer wrote the following material in a blog called, Music and Learning: Integrating Music in the Classroom: “In the 1960’s, Dr. Georgi Lozanov and Evelyna Gateva researched ways to increase memory abilities including the use of music in the classroom. Their successes caught the attention of the world. Teaching techniques developed from their creative experiments and today we have a solid format for effective multisensory and whole brain learning called Accelerated Learning. “

Chris also tells us that background music is used to stimulate internal processing, to facilitate creativity, and encourage personal reflection. Playing reflective music, such as solo piano in either classical or contemporary styles, as students are writing or journaling holds attention for longer periods of time than without the music. In one study, students wrote twice as much with music than without!

Although I love reflective music, there is nothing like some Ministry of Sound tunes to whisk up some creativity in amongst the pressures of deadlines. I know a lot of people can resonate with that.

For others music can be a release from reality, a way to shut out the world or even their heads gong into overdrive (or in other words, negative or pointless self talk). So it’s not only a driving force, but has a calming nature.

Sometimes you do need to tune out from the humbug of the office distractions. Removing these inoperative distractions can help you retain focus and offsetting the time you flick in between facebook or twitter for a peak (come on we’re all guilty of it!!).

So next time your in the office, put on your headphones! You never know what you might come up with when that deadline heads your way. Maybe for you it’s a way to relax, unwind and really settle after a long meeting or as a means of focusing when you have a lot of paperwork to sort through. Whatever it may be for you, indulge in it because it does make working life a lot easier and more pleasant to deal with. And wouldn’t we all like that on a daily basis?

See you at the iTunes store

Did you know that what others say about you, your products or services holds more standing than anything you could ever say on your behalf? Think about it for a moment – when your close friend tells you about a great restaurant they tried over the weekend, doesn’t that make you want to go out and try it for yourself? When you make a declaration about yourself, business or product, it’s a claim. When satisfied customers/clients make the same statement about you, it’s a fact.

One very easy and effective way of proving your worth through facts, according to your clients/customers is through the simple use of testimonials! The number one marketing blunder that I see recurring over and over again by clients is the underuse or absence of testimonials. Using many very high-quality testimonials will give you a vigorous advantage. This will place you one step ahead of your competitors.

What makes a high quality testimonial?

The beauty of testimonials is that they can be in a couple of different forms, such as video or imagery testimonials. You don’t have to stop at a couple of paragraphs. For example, before and after weightless images generate huge credibility and validity that the product or service works. The ‘before’ image creates a picture of the problem (obesity, health implications etc) and the ‘after’ image is the outcome solution (health, vitality, attractiveness). What could be said about these visuals is: – “Before my friend got me onto ABC I was overweight, unhappy and on the verge of diabetes. Then through ABC I regained my vitality, energy and  lost 30KG in xx months.  I feel unbelievable.”

Remember that when using a number of testimonials, you really want to cover as many claim-benefit, demographics and objections as possible. If you are covering B2B, you may want to cover small, medium and large companies.

Celebrity endorsements…me?

Think of products such as pro-active, weight watchers and Sub-Way. All of these companies use celebrities to endorse the capabilities and results of using their products/services. Who is to say you can’t do the same?

Who are some celebrities or well-known people you could approach? Even people who aren’t instantly recognizable visually or my name, can still lend celebrity value & credibility to a marketing message. All you have to do is explain who they are.

It’s not as difficult as you think to get hold of a celebrity. The best way to make contact is via their PA, perhaps by email. You will find that some will not give you the time of day, while others will welcome you with open arms (this has happened to me on many occasions). Keep going after celebrities you respect and who genuinely show interest in your causes.

In today’s competitive world, we need to do what is necessary to prove our credibility, expertise and leadership within our niche. In all situations you are better served letting your customers do the talking for you (as long as you give them exceptional service!) A clever marketer uses testimonials, client lists, graphic evidence, fulfilled customers, celebrity endorsements, every ounce of social proof they can pull together to prove your point. As a result of doing this diligently, you will eventually eliminate the need for endorsements. This is because by then, so many people will be talking about you. How is that for word of mouth?

To your success

Ange

Every product, business or service either appeals or has potential to appeal within a substantial market. It appeals powerfully to a certain defined/specified group of individuals – rather than to all people.

Here are 3 preliminary points to find your starving crowd

1. Geographic targeting

Geographical targeting, referred to as geo-targeting, lets you focus your campaign on specific regions within your market. You can set up your campaign that target customers who are located in specific regions that you select, as well as to prospective customers who include the name of that specific region in their search term. Sometimes it helps to physically go out there and have a look at businesses/perspective clients within your selected area. This will assist you to physically see the following:

• What sort of business do they have?
• What is the quality of their product/services?
• Are they are good match for what you offer?
• Do they have children?
• Are they married or single?
• What income does the business/client make?
• How many employees do they have?
• Does their website lack exposure/information on what they offer?
• Are they technologically savvy or do they not even have an email address?

If you can see for yourself by doing a bit of research exactly type of people they are and what businesses they run, you can then modify your advertising themes, body copy and offers to suit. It’s very important to identify your market as thoroughly as possible so that you are not shooting arrows in the wind. You will have more luck selling them what they want and need, rather than basing it on a hunch.

2. Dominate your market: Strive to be known as the best

Become the most well known and talked about person in your industry. Introduce yourself to prospective customers and businesses, send them direct mail & email pieces, newsletters, greeting and birthday cards. Introduce yourself within the community by sponsoring different events. Take it one step further and add all those businesses and clients to your social media connections. Doing this proactively is time consuming but well worth the effort. People always like to put a face to a name or company. Build connections and relationships. I think I’ve said it before, that people buy from people they like and are like.

If you are looking for another way to generate lists of prospects for direct marketing campaigns, you can find a list broker (search through goggle for one in your area). Using a list broker can be quite costly, although it’s more economical than sending direct mail to just about any business. Below are some tips you can use to narrow down your particular business search.

• Income of business/organization
• Payment options of business/orgaisation (master card/visa/online banking etc)
• What type of business do you want to target (practices/law firms, retail outlets)

3. Targeting by getting in front of crowds

Go out of your way to become known by an association or affinity. Build relationships with members in these associations by sharing your knowledge and content freely as well as educating and assisting them in ways to enhance their results in business.  Some crowds you can get in front of are:

• Toastmasters
• Chamber of commerce
• Networking events (where you are required to speak for about 1 minute about what you do)
• Guest speaker at local events
• PTA’s
• Community events

Imagine the larger scope of people you can target by speaking to a whole room, rather than target individual people? When you begin to build relationships with the people involved in these groups, they will eventually recommend you and your services to people they know.

Always tailor your message to the particular market your speaking to. If they are not technologically equipped, don’t talk about social media and the latest gadgets available today.

A USP is a way of explaining your position against your competition. It also highlights the chief benefit of the business product or service being marketed. Your USP may articulate the “theme” of your business, product or service. Become attentive of the distinctive USP’s of other business around you. Learn from their examples when assessing about your own. Have a look at the following examples:

Coca Cola: Live on the Coke side of life

Coles: It all counts

Woolworths: The fresh food people

Myer: Is my store

Subway: Eat Fresh

So, what is your business USP? Never even thought about it before? To really hone in on what yours could be, you need to become very conscious of USP’s and ask yourself the following questions about every day business, products and services.

1. Does this business have a USP?
2. If not, what can I come up with for the company?
3. If they do have one, can I make up a better one?
4. Is there a small fragment of the USP I can use for my own?

USP’s that answer questions

Having a USP set’s you apart from your competitor’s big time! Does your USP have the ability to answer your niches question? Why should prospects choose your business/product or service when there is another ‘you’ around the corner with so many other options available?

Ask yourself, “What could appeal to your prospective niche market?”

HOT offers that boost your USP rankings

What discounts, bonuses or added extras could you offer to your prospects? What is hot in the marketplace right now that will draw people to you? Here are 3 brilliant ideas to get you thinking in terms of your business: -

1. Using the likes of industry experts for products, such as interviews, special products or even bonus ‘webinars’ where prospects can ask the ‘expert’ questions. This also builds your ‘credibility’ in the marketplace for knowing the right people.
2. Free reports or e books are very popular and a simple way of offering value. Everyone wants value and freebies. Bonus gifts are often the driving force of the sale.
3. A free initial trial of your product or service. Try before you commit to buy, risk free and easy. Let them try out the benefits of your membership site, for instance, and add in the scarcity snippet. This means that your service is free for 30 day’s only (then after the trial offer ends, you will be charged). Scarcity urges people to take action because no one wants to miss out on a special offer!!

Look out for my top secret marketing bullet secret number 2!! Coming your way shortly!

Step 1: Start with whom you know: This is the fastest way to get clients. Tell everyone you know what you’re doing, and ask if the know of anyone who would be interested in your services. People that know you will love talking about you so tell them to get started!! Talking to the people you know may open up doors for you that you never knew were possible. It’s like the saying goes “If you don’t ask, then you will never know”

Step 2: Get in front of people and talk/write: You can do this by speaking at live events, networking breakfasts or evening meetings. Where are your niche players most likely to hang out? Can you somehow get a chance to speak in front of them?  Are there any publications you can write for whom your niche market are a part of or subscribe to? Can you speak to even t promoters, CPA? Get the word out as far and wide as possible. If you do a bit of speaking, a bit of writing and a bit of mingling all the time, you will cover a wider scope of people.

Step 3: and when you’re at these events, chatting. Mixing and mingling, GIVE FIRST ALWAYS!! This should be so easy for those who are passionate and inspired by the work they do. You just want to tell everyone about it!! And so you should because it’s what you believe in, and what you love doing. Make sure you give clients heaps of ideas on how you think they may benefit from the things that you know, give them lots of value based on what they find challenging at the moment. If it’s their website which isn’t making them any money, elaborate on strategies you’ve used for yourself and clients, which have assisted in making money or bringing in leads. People who have the most success are the ones who give tremendous value to all the people they talk to.

To your success

Ange

Social proof: This is all about proving you know the “in” people that you know your stuff and are the leader in your industry. You can highlight this by throwing in a few “industry expert” names with the sales copy. This triggers a response called “heard” which is the ability to convert a large number of people into doing what you ask them to do because of who and what you know. Robert B. Cialdini explains this well: “People will do things that they see other people are doing. For example, in one experiment, one or more confederates would look up into the sky; bystanders would then look up into the sky to see what they were seeing. At one point this experiment aborted, as so many people were looking up that they stopped traffic”.

Authority: If we can get experts to confirm our credibility (such as our clients through testimonials, word of mouth etc), it gives us authority and proves we have an exceptional, even comprehensive understanding of our subject. People do like to be told what to do by the experts and the more you can prove this, the more authority you have (and this plays on building social proof).

Anticipation: You can create anticipation by gradually revealing more and more about your product as you progress with your sales copy. When you have a compelling story, you are moving your audience forward bit by bit. They begin to identify with that story, and think that the character you are talking about is them. Then you lead them to the resolution of solving an issue, pain or need they have.

Common Enemy: This is powerful stuff because if you can create a common enemy and talk about them in your sales copy (such as the tight arse boss, or the colleague from hell). By doing this you will trigger the viewer to create motivation from that common enemy and enable you to “influence them” in some sort of way. Give it a go and see the effects for yourself.

Commitment & Consistency: This is about getting your prospects to make little commitments along the way. Constantly getting a “yes” from them (as many as possible) then leads them to saying a big “YES” to a larger commitment (such as purchasing your online membership rate)

Interaction and conversation: Everyone loves REAL interact and they enjoy reading other peoples life stories. This keeps the conversation moving, seeming real, genuine, and emotional. You definitely want to steer away from the static, boring dialogue.

Reciprocity: This is the idea that if you give something someone, they are compelled and driven to give something back to you. So give lots of content for free, all the time to your prospects – such as a free months subscription, or a free e book, interview, something that would be of value and is relevant to them.

I trust these 7 steps will trigger a nice little real life story for your next sales copy project. Weather it’s for your own material, or for clients, these effective mental triggers really assist you to make an impact with others. Try them out and let me know how you go

An innovative, and compelling heading will keep readers interested in what you have to say. It’s got to be a heading that creates an emotional shift within the reader. Perhaps it’s a question they want answered, maybe it’s a desire they want fulfilled. These ideas create a buzz, a sensation of interest and a desire to read below the heading, straight onto the body copy. This is what you want, as it keeps prospects on your website for longer. They can see what value you have to offer and may purchase your product, sign up for your free report or whatever you have asked them to opt into.

If you can keep your audience captivated on the heading, you have them for a short time. If you can keep this up and always apply a strategic headline to all your website material, even your blogs, you will set yourself on the correct path towards writing sensational material, and of course, keeping people on your site. After all, everyone likes to read something interesting .Why not have a bit of fun and try a few things out?

I came across a brilliant blog, which goes into more detail about this. Please click on the link below and apply these to your strategic headline planning. See how you go. There is even a series of blog post on this for anyone interested in delving a bit further with this.

10 Sure-fire headline formulas that work

To your success

Ange

So many clients are stuck when it comes to converting people via their website. A lot of these issues stem from a very static website where content isn’t updated regularly. Of course, if you are not using any decent analytical tools, then you really don’t know which pages are attracting the most traffic. It’s really important to know what people are looking at, so you can see whats actually working and what to do more of.

Please review the following article for some great tips on conversions. I trust you will get a lot of value from reading it also.

Article: Click here for Andrews full article

Ange

HOT website don’t necessarily work!!

Yes, you heard right I’m taking a stand and going against the grain of habitual, graphic design talk!! We preach about how horrible some website look and their making money, while the pretty sites stay static, have no traffic generation and do bugger all for the person! Has anyone every experienced what I’m talking about? I know a lot of you have!!

How many times has it been drummed into my head that a website which cannot generate leads or create interest amongst a community, is a complete waste of cyber space!! I have to agree completely with this. I’m not one to place something online if it’s not going to add value to my niche and also assist me to find the people who REALLY want my stuff!!

It’s challenging telling my clients this, especially coming from a creative person! I have to say, I’m more for getting my clients results rather than creating a campaign that does wily nilly for their business.

Now there is hope if you think outside the box!! You can create a gorgeous website with an eminent imagination, although keeping in mind that the purpose of a website is for it to do something productive for the client. There is nothing more rewarding than combining a productive functionality, with the essence of lead and income generation.

Sometimes we have to make a compromise, partly trying our best to make something look awesome, as well as making it functional.

This is what you are there to do for your client’s. Guiding them towards a solution that benefits them as much as possible, not one that benefits your portfolio! I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about designers not listening to the client, and going off into la la land doing what they think is best. Listen to your client, understand their needs and make suggestions. Best advice of all:

Treat clients/prospects/customers, as you would like to be treated, with care, respect and compassion. They may be new to all this mumbo jumbo and most likely need someone that is patient.

Think of it this way, a happy client/customer/prospect is someone that will tell others about you, refer work to you and best of all, become loyal and think you ROCK!!

Be honest and be yourself in business. People buy you, not what you are selling.

To your success

Ange